My earlier report of a new tradition in the Jordanian expat community has generated a bit of interest. In case you haven’t been following this blog, I reported that people have been seen riding camels through the desert, drinking wine from sippy cups. My sources assure me these were “traditional” sippy cups – the kind that toddlers use to drink juice. But I discovered, thanks to “Grapefriend”, that you can actually get a proper WINE SIPPY CUP. I realize that “proper” may be a bit of a stretch here, but check it out for yourself. This new information puts the whole idea of drinking wine on a camel into a new perspective. (Alysia, what kind of wine goes best with camel riding anyway?)

Which brings us back to preparing for my upcoming trip to Jordan. Armed with this new information, my mission is to find a WINE SIPPY CUP before I arrive in Jordan. I only have four days left, so I’m not holding out too much hope, but I’m going to try. If I succeed, I’ll be sure to provide a picture for you. (Actually, I’ll probably provide a picture even if I don’t succeed.)

And now for something completely different. I have to confess that every time I think of someone riding a camel through the desert, drinking wine … from a sippy cup, only one thing comes to mind. “You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest … with a herring.”

This picture from Wadi Dana isn’t exactly the mightiest tree in the forest – well, actually, it probably was the mightiest tree around, though it wasn’t much of a forest. But it did provide a wonderful silhouette for the setting sun.